Devices in a network environment communicate by directing information to network address of other devices. Each device has a unique network address to which information may be directed.
Occasionally, repeated communication with a list of devices in a network is desirable. Conventionally, the network address for each device on the list must be known to achieve the repeated communication. However, in some network environments, such as those using a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), the network address of a device often changes.
If the network address of a device on the list changes, finding the new network address has been difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, if a new device is assigned to one of the network addresses on the list, the new device may be mistaken for the device on the list, leading to confusion.
In a DHCP network, a central administrator, called a server, controls the assignment of network addresses to devices and keeps an index of the devices to which the network addresses have been assigned. This index designates the devices in the index by a hostname. The hostname is a unique name by which a device is known on a network.
Using hostnames instead of network addresses does not solve all problems associated with a repeated communication with a list of devices. For example, devices may be renamed or removed entirely from a network. In either case, confusion is likely to occur during the attempted communication with the devices on the list.